KIEV, April 11. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine’s accession to NATO would wreck the country’s defense industry, leader of the Ukrainian Communist Party Petr Simonenko, who is running for Ukrainian president in a snap presidential election scheduled for May 25, said on Friday.

“The position of the Ukrainian Communist Party is that Ukraine should an off-bloc state,” he stressed. “It should join NATO in no event. It will trigger very serious problems. Ukraine’s accession to the North Atlantic Alliance would completely destroy the country’s defense industry and defense science.